Canned Saints Row Movie Could Have Featured Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

September 5, 2016
Written by Michael Briers

The fallout from THQ’s bankruptcy had a devastating effect on a number of high-profile video game projects circa 2012, but what about movies?

According to Nick Nunziata and Peter Aperlo — Producer and Screenwriter, respectively — the publishing house had hatched early plans for a live-action Saints Row movie, one pitched in the style of a “modern-day Escape from New York.” News emerges on the franchise’s 10th anniversary, with Nunziata penning an in-depth blog post via Fandom. It was here that the creative talent shared some fascinating insight into the canned feature film, including how Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was in line to star.

Boasting that signature “Saints Row attitude,” the post claims that a number of big-name directors were circling the project before THQ pulled the plug. Plot details are sketchy, but Nunziata notes that the proposed movie would have taken cues from Saints Row 2, chronicling the story of “the Boss as a Count of Monte Cristo figure coming in to reclaim what was once his.”

Toss in “over-the-top action” and “darkly humorous social commentary” and you’ll begin to get a sense of the direction in which Nick Nunziata and Peter Aperlo were steering THQ’s scrapped Saints Row movie at the time. It’s no more, sadly, but developer Volition is currently working on upcoming hero shooter Agents of Mayhem.